Australian Tropical Herbarium
Matt Barrett
- Research Fellow
- matt.barrett@jcu.edu.au
Darren Crayn
- Director, Australian Tropical Herbarium
- darren.crayn@jcu.edu.au
Mel Harrison
- Research Operations Manager
- melissa.harrison@jcu.edu.au
Stuart Worboys
- Botanist
- stuart.worboys@jcu.edu.au
Frank Zich
- Adjunct Senior Research Fellow
- frank.zich@jcu.edu.au
Zoe Allgood
- Mapping Technician
- zoe.allgood@jcu.edu.au
State of the Wet Tropics Report (Old ID 31177)
The Wet Tropics Management Authority produces a thematic annual State of the Wet Tropics report. This year’s report is themed threatened species. ATH staff are assisting in preparing the report.
Surveys and impact assessments of single watercourse endemic riparian species
A number of threatened species are restricted to one or few streams in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. This project will document the post-Tropical Cyclone Jasper surviving populations of these high conservation value single watercourse endemics through targeted surveys. The data will be used to design initiate a series of targeted habitat restoration and recovery actions to be undertaken. Collectively, these actions will provide invaluable information to develop a draft multi-species Recovery Action Plan for single watercourse flora endemic to this World Heritage region.
Delineation, monitoring and surveillance of priority invasive weeds post TC Jasper
This project delivers targeted delineation, monitoring and surveillance of priority weed species in TC Jasper impacted areas including slip zones and riparian areas across the northern section of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area and surrounds.
Normanby Wetland Typology and Mapping
Provision of standing water coverage data set and updated line work and RE attribution for ten (10) target wetlands (Lily, Curly, 2-mile, Cabbage Palm, Homestead, White Gum, Mailman & Bottom Lagoons + Middle Lake and Sweet Swamp), incl. wetland typology.
Australian National Botanic Gardens plant Collecting. (Old ID 27684)
Recently, the Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) suffered significant losses of propagated materials when environmental controllers in their propagation houses failed. The ANBG wishes to replace the lost materials with horticulturally and scientifically attractive plants collected from the rainforests of Queensland’s Wet Tropics bioregion.
Assessing the impacts of myrtle rust on forest dynamics and function (Old ID 31154)
This project investigates the consequences for environmental health of myrtle rust – an exotic fungal pathogen - infection on kanuka box (Tristaniopsis exiliflora). Kanuka box is a tree that grows along fast-flowing, rocky watercourses of northeast Queensland and is important for stabilising banks and preventing erosion within catchments of the Great Barrier Reef. Myrtle rust can kill kanuka box and is therefore a serious ecosystem-level threat that urgently needs to be better understood to assist in conservation management.
Securing the future of Australia’s threatened tropical mountain flora for science and society (Old ID 25045)
This project will enable us to secure the future of Australia’s climate-threatened tropical mountaintop plants. We will do this by building a multi-strategy ex-situ conservation reserve to ‘backup’ at-risk wild populations and support research, display and education. Our novel research on seed banking strategies, genetic diversity and plant tolerance of extreme climates will ensure that the reserve collections, distributed across multiple Botanic Gardens and Seed Banks along Australia’s east coast, incorporate high redundancy, are genetically and physiologically diverse, and climatically matched to wild habitat.
Saving the unique plants ofAustralia's tropical mountaintops through understanding the threats (Old ID 22210)
This project will improve our understanding of the extinction risk to Australia's unique tropical moutain flora from climate change, and provide important knowledge which will help in developing measures to mitigate its effects. It will achieve this through three activities: 1. first ever targeted, systematic surveys to document the distribution and abundance of threatened mountaintop plant speciesl; 2. establishment of field plots to allow monitoring of the health of mountaintop plant populations over the long term; and 3. establishment of living collections of the two native Rhododendron species to provide well-provenanced materials for conservation and further research.
Making headway with Ericaceae – a contribution toward a Flora of Australia account of Epacridoideae (Old ID 24706)
Generic boundaries in the predominantly Australian subfamily Epacridoideae (Ericaceae; c. 580 Australian taxa) have recently been resolved following many years of phylogenetic research, paving the way for the description of undescribed species and a Flora of Australia treatment. This project will complete part of such a treatment by formalizing generic-level nomenclature, describing 25 new species and completing species profiles for all capsular-fruited taxa (c. 150 species). This research will aid conservation efforts, particularly in south-western Australia, where there is a high level of diversity, with many species subject to multiple threats.
Progressing a Flora of Australia treatment of Ericaceae subfamily Epacridoideae (Old ID 27243)
Generic boundaries in the predominantly Australian Ericaceae subfamily Epacridoideae (c. 580 Australian taxa) have recently been resolved following many years of phylogenetic research, paving the way for the description of undescribed species and a Flora of Australia treatment. We have completed the first part of such a treatment: species profiles and a LucID key of all 152 species of the capsular fruited taxa (tribes Archerieae, Cosmelieae, Epacrideae, Prionoteae, and Richeeae). The proposed project will complete the second part by describing 10 new species and completing species profiles and keys for 180 species of the remaining two tribes: Oligarrheneae and Styphelieae. This research will aid conservation efforts, particularly in south-western Australia, where there is a high level of diversity, with many species subject to multiple threats.
An updated estimate of intergeneric phylogenetic relationships in the Australian Vitaceae
- 2007
- National Research Council
- Researchers:Darren CraynBetsy Jackes
A molecular estimate of the phylogeny of Styphelieae (Ericaceae)
- 2003
- CSIRO Publishing
- Researchers:Darren Crayn
A revision of Lissanthe (Styphelioideae: Ericaceae)
- 2003
- CSIRO Publishing
- Researchers:Darren Crayn
Leionema scopulinum, a new species from Wollemi National Park
- 2004
- National Herbarium of New South Wales
- Researchers:Darren Crayn
Generic concepts in Styphelieae (Ericaceae): the Cyathodes group
- 2005
- CSIRO Publishing
- Researchers:Darren Crayn
Title:
President